The Biowheel’s boys showed up with an impressive squad for the 2008 Highland Rim Omnium.  This year we had a total of 7 riders spanning 3 fields.  Racing in the Masters 30/40 field were: Chad Schoenhauer, Jason Smith, and Mike Small.  In the Cat. 3 field were: Andy Pooser, Chris Emory, and myself.  For the Cat. 4 races Travis Fender raced his second event since upgrading 1 month ago.

In the master’s race everyone made the break of about 20.  Crossing the line in 6th was Jason, with Chad 7th, and Mike taking 10th.  For our race Chris was the only one who could make the break.  Coming into the finale he sprinted to 3rd.  Andy and I settled for 15th and 22nd.  In Travis’s race he was able to make the breakaway, and finish 5th.  I don’t think it will be long before we see him racing as a Cat. 3!

After a brief nap at the hotel we were out warming up for the TT.  It would be a 2.5 mile climb up the plateau.  Chris continued to show his strength and won the Cat. 3 race.  Jason came in 7th, and Chad 9th for the masters.  Travis made a huge statement with a time so fast, he would have been 5th in the pro/1/2 race!  He settled for second though.  Andy and I continued our mediocre performances.

For Sunday’s crit. the masters were first.  Jason and Chad worked with Hugh Moran of Organic Athlete to control the break.   The break stuck and Chad got 8th(plus some primes), and Jason 10th.  In the Cat. 3 race Chris went for the money taking 3 primes and settling for 4th place.  Andy wasn’t feeling well so he sat out the race, and I blew up very early after going for a prime on lap 2.

This years Highland Rim Omnium turned out to be another great weekend for the BioWheels-Deltec team. 

Posted by:Zach Bannow

We last left off with the STAGE FOUR team time trial. With it being by far the shortest stage in the Tour, it was the easiest day for the riders and staff. Marco Polo was first to go off, with HealthNet two minutes behind them. With no time trial specialists on the roster, great results were not expected. As the story goes, before they were to go off, each of their bikes had to be weighed by the officials to ensure they weren’t underneath the UCI minimum weight limit of 6.8kg. As they each were hefted up onto the scale by a race official, they were coming in at 6.1 and 6.2kg! The guys questioned the validity of this scale, which to them more resembled a scale used to measure chickens and fruit…

Ultimately the readings were ignored and they were allowed to take their start. The guys looked strong, and stayed smooth keeping everyone together in formation. They wound up finishing last on the day, but by only two seconds.

STAGE FIVE was the first trip north into the mountains, and the roads were phenomenal! Beautiful scenery with perfect undulations and curves on flawless pavement. 128 miles on the road today, with two big Cat 3 climbs and a little hard-hitter at the end to finish things off. That first Cat 3 over Burnt Mountain was a tough Cat 3! Long and windy with several steep pitches. Seemed harder than some of the higher categorized climbs the following day. Sergey didn’t make it halfway up before jumping in the team car - his tour is over. Jai had some bad luck today with two flat tires, the second putting him off the group as it was winding up for the finish. A teammate was there to give him the wheel, and another there to help him chase, but it was for naught. After burying himself over the final 7km, he still finished 90 seconds off the winning time. That small sliver of metal I later pulled out of his tire most likely cost him his dream race up Brasstown.

STAGE SIX to Brasstown Bald went about as well as it could have for Jai. With a significant break of strong guys going off early, Slipstream set a steady pace that all he had to do was follow. He made to the bottom of the final climb sitting in a group of 30 being led by Astana. Astana sent two riders on attacks at the bottom, and then accelerated a lead-out for Levi that snapped the 30-strong lead group. Jai looked to be in trouble 1/3 of the way up, maybe trying too hard to stay at the front of that group (his goal was top ten). After the group shattered, Jai first fell off with the back half of the group, then recovered and picked his way up through the group to finish in a group of four led by early attacker Bobby Julich. He feels that if everything had been perfect for him (no flat tire and chase the day before, and feeling 100% mentally and physically good) he could have made the top five. Without that happening he still placed inside the top fifteen, which is pretty awesome.

There are lots of amazing subplots from within the race, but the one hardman tale that must be told is that of 6′5″ Astana-rider Michael Schar. We were lucky to park next to the Astana crew most days during the Tour, and we saw some interesting things come out of that box truck. Since we were using virtually the same bicycles, we traded hard-to-locate parts (or more accurately, we borrowed from them). Riding in the team car behind Astana during stage one, we noticed a crazy bike up on the roof, a huge Madone frame with what appeared to be a double-seat mast, and an abnormally long stem. A 16 cm stem to be precise! I’d never seen one. Michael had the misfortune to get caught up in one of the first crashes of the Tour, and as a result dislocated his shoulder. Race radio had announced him as “abandoned.” Fifteen minutes later he came up along past our car, rode up alongside Astana car driven by Eki, and took 5-6 bottles up to his teammates. He had gotten up from his crash, had the medic put his shoulder back into place (POP!), and chased solo for 15 minutes through the caravan to get back in the race (but not before grabbing bottles for teammates). Amazing! Henk and I eavesdropped while washing bikes at Schar pleading with Johan Bruyneel after stage three to let him continue to race. Johan told him that he was needed later in the season and sent him home to Switzerland early to heal his shoulder. So that’s the story behind the story of his DNF at TdG.

We were one of the few teams riding clinchers during the race. Bontrager Aerolus carbon clinchers with Vredestein Fortezza’s to be exact. Jai, Rhys, and Fuyu had brought their own set of tubulars to use for the climbing stages. Can you guess which tires flatted? Not one flat on eight pairs of clinchers, and at least one flat for each rider that rode their tubulars. Unexpected.

On a subject related to flat tires, the scene going on behind the peloton during these races has to be seen to be believed. You’ve got 15 teams with 2 team cars each, loaded with bikes, wheels, food and drink. There’s Team Car One and Team Car Two, and each team is given their place in the caravan based on their team placing in the GC. Each car has a number on their back window 1 through 15. They line up based on those numbers in the right lane. The left lane is called the service lane, and when a rider needs food, advice, or has a puncture, they raise their hand and race radio calls that rider’s team to the front. Every team wants to be as close to the front as possible, so they can service their riders faster. There’s a lot of speeding and crazy driving going on. The BMC team car was missing its rear bumper on stage five, with HealthNet having the front bumper to match. It’s like every component of this race is a race. Largely it’s a race on bicycles, but it’s also a race behind in souped-up team cars, it’s a race between the mechanics in the big rental box trucks and RV’s up to the next stage’s host hotel. Got to grab up the primo spots in the parking lot you know!

Both Jai and Fuyu flatted on stage five on their lightweight tubular climbing wheels. In the pro peloton, they don’t shoot Stans sealant inside and fix ‘em - you tear the tire off and replace it with a fresh new one. So at 9pm the night before Stage Six Brasstown Bald, I’m gluing up new tires for both our GC leader and the former Asian champion for what will be the most technically demanding stage of the race. I always tell my clients to wait 24 hours before they race on tires that I’ve glued up, but there is no choice here. This is the team’s highest profile race of the year, and Jai’s biggest race of his young career - what pressure! Yes I was very nervous in the team car, and watching attentively through the first high-speed corners. My stomach finally settled after their 60mph descent off Hogpen Gap. The glue had held, and no mechanical problems on the day for the team. I needed a beer at the end of that day.

Rock Racing. From my 10 days of staying in the same hotels, parking lots, and dining halls with the riders and staff - 100% nice guys. Always a smile and greeting from each of the riders passing them in the hallway, sharing an elevator, walking through their team zone. I came away so impressed that I bought a couple of their T-shirts for my staff back at the shop back in Cincinnati… a good chunk of the $3.12 per hour wage I had earned as professional team race mechanic.

Thanks for reading,
Mitch

We had to first go through the grid qualifier that was the day before. It was a bit confusing if you have never done it but basically you ride the computrainer for 3k(simulating the crit course) and your time will determine your start/pole position for the twilight the next night. This is pretty important since there is usually 150-200 participants.

The top 8 times for the computrainer then compete for cash and i guess glory @ 9:00 pm that same day of the qualifier. Well somehow i managed to make the final eight for the finals and finish 4th overall. It was a bit nerve racking riding on the stage in front of LOTS people watching and yelling at you for close to 8 painfull minutes. Finishing 4th also ment a call up to the front line for the Athens Twilight.

On to the crit now and i will try to keep it short. MADNESS…I got caught up in a crash within the first few laps. Got a wheel change and was put back in but placed in THE BACK. Worked hard to move up including having to swerve and sprint around more crashes. 4 laps to go feeling pretty good considering how fast it was then another crash in turn 1. Nowhere to swerve so got wedged in with the carnage and was gapped. Lots of pain in the legs at this point and was not able to catch up to the pack and ended up finishing just behind the field.

Adam and Andrew both were also mixed up in many crashes and were unable to finish. This im sure would be the toughest race we would due for the season so it can only get easier. Adam and Andrew also had a pretty good start position from the qualifier but happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.  The town of athens was absolutely rocking with excitement and it was truly an experience that we will not forget.

 Chris Ernst

The weather for this somewhat local century turned out to be much better than predicted.  Also, with the Tour De Moore being several hours away the Burnsville Metric made a great fast training ride for local road racers.  Representing BioWheels-Deltec were Mike Small, Mike Jackson, Grant Gosch, and myself.   Once again we had the strongest group of guys in the event.  However, this time there were about 15 TCRC riders trying hard to use team tactics against us.

Century rides are always fun because there is a mix of fast “club” riders as well as road racers.  Everyone in the front ot the ride is pretty much “racing” in an effort to achieve bragging rights for the day.   These rides present many chances to practice the same tactical skills needed when racing.  However, we call these rides “cookie rides” simply because there is no money on the line.  So while competitve, we are all out to have fun and support the locals who make it happen.

So, from a racer’s perspective; here is how I saw the ride… From the start there was attack after attack from the TCRC guys.  With Mike Small having the abilaty to ride for sustained durations at 30 miles/hr there was never any panic.  At about mile 20 Mike S. decided to roll off the front.  By taking a TCRC guy with him, it prevented any of the other TCRC guys from chasing.  This set up a counter move from Mike Jackson, and 1 more TCRC guy.  They bridged up to the first break, and then they were all gone.  Back in the main field Grant and I were now stuck riding at 18-20 miles/hr.  At this point Grant was getting cagey.  He felt good, but missed the move.  Either of us would look like idiots if we chased down our own teamates.  If we wanted to get out of the group it would have to be a clean break, and hopefully we wouldn’t bring anyone too fast with us.  The opportunity happened on the first climb.  It was only about .5 miles long, but long enough to split the field.  Grant was finaly able to get up the road, but on the decent was caught by some bigger guys who descend faster.  Over the next third of the ride we rolled through beautiful ridges and pastures in Yancey county.  Eventually coming to a climb that allowed 5 of us to break free from those still left in the pack.  It was Grant, Chris (Youngblood Bikes), Art Schuster, a TCRC guy, and Me.  Once we got separation from the field I realized that the TCRC guy and Art were doing no work.  I knew Art was tired, but the TCRC guy was using us to drag him to the break up the road and his teamate.  He also apeared to be stronger than any of us.  Then we saw the break up the road.  Since they weren’t riding flat out, we caught them.  Coming into the final miles we tried several times to attack the TCRC riders, but the one who came with us was too strong.  Sprinting up the hill into town he finished first.  Mike Jackson was right behind in second, Grant third.  With me bringing up eigth, we had 4 guys in the top 8.  Compared to TCRC having a team of 15 and only 2 with the lead group, we showed some strength once again.

So that is the report from a racer’s point of view.  There were also at least 100 other riders of all ages and speeds who finished.  For some just finishing was the goal.  For others, maybe this was their first group ride.  At the end of the day I think the person who had the most fun is the real “winner”. 

written by: Zach Bannow

Grant,Zach and Mike J.

Watching a pack of 118 professional bike racers in a peloton from a few cars back is something else. It’s a mass of color washing back and forth across the road; at one moment stretching out length-wise, and the next width-wise. For the first two stages we had a Chinese reporter and cameraman from CCTV following the team around, and yesterday she made a rather acute remark in the team car that the team director’s responsibility was kind of like “management of energy.” Rather ironic that our sponsor for the race is GE.

Okay, was my profile the other day of Rhys foreshadowing of what was to come? It’s clear that he’s above average in Georgia here. All I heard after Stage One was how brutal it was at the front with 4km to go. Riders getting shoved all over the place, and the pace through the final stretch 40mph. Then Rhys rolls Sergey up through all of that and drops him into third position? Definitely on some good form.

For those that haven’t been following the stages, Rhys made both breakaways on stages 2 and 3. There was some controversy yesterday with the Most Aggressive Rider award going to Rhys. I guess we were surprised it didn’t go to Justin England as well, but hey Rhys was the strongest in the break and was the only one who could go with the pack when they were swept up. Today he wasn’t so lucky, the final circuit was incredibly technical and hilly - very tough to hang on after being swept up. Riders were getting shelled in ones and twos handily. Count half our team in the shelled category.

Sergey has an interesting routine prior to race start of borrowing the 4 and 5mm allen wrenches and playing around with his handlebar and stem for 15 minutes. Tilting bar up, tilting it down, getting shifter perch positioned just right, adjusting stem left and right. For him, one day’s perch is not the next one’s.

Tomorrow is the team time trial. After that we hit the mountains for the first time, and the fireworks really go off. Jai Crawford is our climber, 5′7 and 130 lbs…and all business. He made the split today; it’s promising that he’ll be able to make top 10 at Brasstown Bald. He placed fifth at Genting Highlands at 2007 Tour of Langkawi. He pre-rode Brasstown last Thursday and very much liked the climb. Can’t wait till Saturday!

Cheers,
Mitch

Sometimes you may take a look at a rider roster and wonder ‘who the heck is this guy and what is he doing here?’ I was chatting with Rhys Pollack at dinner the first night and tried to figure out what kind of rider he was. “Are you a climber?” His answer, a very straight-forward Australian, “Nah.” “Are you a sprinter then?” “Nah, I can kinda go fast, but I can’t sprint. And I can’t climb real well neither.” Me again: “Are you a rouleur then?” “Nah, I just do whatever the team needs me to do.” Simple enough I guess.

His role on the team was illustrated well enough on Stage One to Savannah. After a fairly uneventful flat stage it’s 4Ks to go and Leon links up with our Russian sprinter Sergey and hauls him up towards the front. As the pace picks up to just under 40 mph, Rhys comes up alongside and takes over for Leon. With the peloton moving at 39mph, Rhys drops Sergey off in third position just behind the High Road leadout! Although Dominquez’s Toyota United train swallowed up his line, Sergey (blue rider in photo below at an angle) still managed to come around and finish just off the podium in fifth place!

The highlights of the day seem to happen as we’re wrapping things up. Not sure what the story was below, but apparently there were some cleat and pedal issues that required immediate hacksaw surgery on a set of Sidi Ergo 2’s. Hmmmmm…

Some dude stole off with one of the team bikes for a joyride around the parking lot while we were packing the truck up. We look up from inside the truck and were like, “what the hell?” As the thief rode it back to where he found it the face was familiar. The ’stache’ gave him away - Dave Zabriske.

Oh, and in case you had not seen everything carbon fiber yet:

Nine Trek Madones, all getting new Red groupos, new Aerolus wheelsets,…. and just two days to get it done. No problem - let’s start with the wheels?

Unpack wheels and their small parts from cardboard, lay out new Vredestein tires and tubes, Red cassettes, rim tape, rim tape?…. anyone see any rim tape?

Todd drives the 35 minutes back to Savannah in search of an LBS for rim tape, and we start in on the bikes. These really are incredible machines. And that’s what they are to these guys - machines. Especially with all the carbon fiber frames - these bikes are so much more disposable than the old steel race bikes that they usually break before a rider has even the time to become attached to it. They love them though, and how could you not with all that performance?

The locals are very interested in the race - and come through our impromptu workshop picking up the bikes and asking lots of questions. With all the team buses, trailers and RV’s together in the same parking lot, I was trying to think about what other sport puts the event and the atmosphere right out there in front of people, and a circus parade was the closest thing I could come up with.

One of the conclusions to our evening was 2-time Tour de France stage winner Leon van Bon getting a free lesson in bike fit from a slightly intoxicated local. Apparently he’s been riding all these years with his seat not low enough and his bar not high enough. How many stages could he have won had he not learned this sooner?

GE-Marco Polo Roster for Tour de Georgia

51 Leon Van Bon (Ned)
52 Jai Crawford (Aus)
53 Serguei Koudentsov (Rus)
54 Fuyu Li (Chn)
55 Yilin Liu (Chn)
56 Loh Sea Keong (Mas)
57 Rhys Pollock (Aus)
58 Yan Dong Xing (Chn)

 The Upstate Race Weekend is held in the Greenville/Spartanburg area of South Carolina.  This year the first of the two race series was a road race on Saturday at the Donaldson Center.  Standouts for the day inlcuded Mike Small, Jason Smith, and Nicole Crane.  The Master’s 35+, and Master’s 45+ fields were combined.  This allowed Mike and Jason to work together.  On the final lap Mike rode off the front in a solo attack.  Jason and a few others were able to bridge up to Mike.  Then after a leadout from Mike, Jason sprinted to 4th place.  Nicole Crane decided to race the Women’s Pro/1/2/3 race and also did very well. 

Here is her report: 

I felt stellar. Missed my start due to a pee break and time trialed back onto the field. A perfect warmup actually and felt great the whole race. Lots of thunder and lightening and oh yeah, the ever present Donaldson Center wind and rain. My final effort began on lap 3 and I pretty much stayed up front the next 2 laps because I was too nervous to be behind people in the terrible thunderstorm (especially over the railroad tracks). One girl launched with 1 mile to go and no one countered and I had no jump left so I made a perfect lead out for the BMW women for the sprint for 2nd. I ended up 8th and the BMW girls were nice enough to pay me out for all the work I did for their benefit.

On Sunday the BioWheels Cat. 3 team showed up ready to battle at Walnut Grove.  The race was 55 miles long, consisting of 2 laps on a “rolling” course.  The course actually had several significant climbs.  Representing BioWheels were: Chris Emory, Andy Pooser, Mike Jackson, and myself.  We decided at the start that we were all working for Andy.  From the beginning there was attack after attack.  The field, including out team kept everything in check (mostly due to Chris).  The first lap was over after about 1:15.  With that out of the way it was time to start looking for the serious attacks.  They started as expected.  But with Chris working to shut things down, were all crushed.  I have to say; I have never seen the strongest guy at a race totally sell out for another guy.  Chris used all of his abilities to help Andy.  Very classy!  So with the race all back together we approached the final.  After rolling fast, suddenly the bunch slowed.  I was boxed in about 15 guys back.  We were about 1.5k from the finish.  I got cagey and decided to lead out the sprint.  Had I known how far out we were, I wouldn’t have gone, but hind sight is always 20/20.  I did get it strung out a bit to set up Andy.  He sprinted hard and took 4th place.

Nicole also raced Sunday, she said:

Our women’s field was speckled with talent: a few pros and teams with the power to control the field. We had a 55 mile race, Laura Bowles (Team Chapstick Advil) attacked on the first climb and no one thought she’d stay away. She had 2 women with her but it was so windy and we let them dangle for ages. I tried to bridge a few times but the wind was too much and I got back into the pack thinking surely with a field of 20 we will catch them and then I’ll counter attack. But, we never did catch them and I looked around and our field had popped into a small group of 8. We chased for rest of the race but with a BMW woman up the road and the rest of her team blocking in this chase field, not much got accomplished except dropping everyone else. I cramped and bonked with 10 miles to go and suffered to an 11th place finish. 

Posted by: Zach Bannow